ASTR 310 - Observational Astronomy

Formula for Greenwich Sidereal Time

A formula relating the Greenwich mean (not apparent) sidereal time (GST) to the universal time
(UT), good during a given year can be found on page B8 of the Astronomical Almanac. It looks
like this:

GST = G + 0.0657098244 × d + 1.00273791 × t

where d is the day number during the year, t is the UT, and G is a constant for the year, actually
just the GST at UT = 0h on January 0 (= December 31 previous year!). Here are some values of
G. Note how the progression jumps after 2000, 2004, and 2008, which are leap years:

G G
Year hours h m s
1999 6.6147239 6 36 53.00
2000 * 6.5988098 6 35 55.72
2001 6.6486056 6 38 54.98
2002 6.6326915 6 37 57.69
2003 6.6167774 6 37 00.40
2004 * 6.6008633 6 36 03.11
2005 6.6506591 6 39 02.37
2006 6.6347450 6 38 05.08
2007 6.6188309 6 37 07.79
2008 * 6.6029168 6 36 10.50
2009 6.6527125 6 39 09.76
2010 6.6367984 6 38 12.47
2011 6.6208844 6 37 15.19

A little table of the accumulated days at the start of each month is useful for finding the day
number d:
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Days 31 28 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31
Accumulated 0 31 59 90 120 151 181 212 243 273 304 334
Days (* Leap Yr) 31 29 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31
Accumulated 0 31 60 91 121 152 182 213 244 274 305 335

For example, if the date were October 3, 2001, and the UT were 6 h 30m , we would proceed as
follows:
Since 2001 is not a leap year, we have d = 273 + 3 = 276. Then

GST = 6.6486056 + 0.0657098244 × 276 + 1.00273791 × 6.5 = 31.30231355

and, since the result exceeds 24h , we subtract 24 to obtain

GST = 7.30231355 = 7h 18m 8.33s